While Disney’s Star Wars Rebels is safely shading in the gap between Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope with only a few nods to the future of the franchise under JJ Abrams, what comes next will be firmly rooted in the new era.

According to rumours being pedalled over at /Film, Lucasfilm have an end in sight for Star Wars Rebels and are looking to launch a brand new animated series set in Star Wars: Episodes VII, VII and IX continuity to replace the much-loved interquel.

The site speculates that “If Rebels does go three or four seasons, the new show would hypothetically start in 2017 or 2018, around the same time we’ll see Star Wars Episode VIII. That means we’ll have at least one, possibly two movies of world building in which to set up a new story and set of characters.”